C&C 27 Association – About Our Site & Forum

How many times have you flailed about for information about your C&C 27? Tried
to find out how to order a replacement part, or track down the acceptable length
of a spinnaker pole? Or find reasonable ways of removing paint from the bottom?
Since 2000, this site has enabled C&C 27 owners to share information you need
for hassle-free ownership of these boats.

The site comprises two main channels of information. Both can be searched using
the Google search on the Home page; you are strongly encouraged to use this, or
the search capabilities built into our Forum software (of which more a few lines
down):

The 'permanent' pages – which is to say, everything save the Forum. If a
topic is of enduring interest, it probably has been turned into a page or section
in the main body of the site. This includes basic information about the boats in
the first four sections, 'how-to' information in Black Arts and a miscellany in
the following sections.

The Forum. This has been going since 2000, so it contains a tremendous amount
of information and experience from other C&C 27 owners. Before you rush to post
a question that has been burning your brain, please read Using the Forum, following.

Registering for the Forum

Regrettably, the Forum software has become corrupted, so new registrations are not possible.
We have no idea when this will change. Our apologies. In the meantime, we suggest you use the
Search function to see if your question has already been answered; there is an amazing amount
of info in our posts. If it is not there (and you have searched diligently) the Admin will post
your question for you. Send an e-mail to the address in the following paragraph.

If you simply want to sell your C&C 27 or equipment (27-specific only) rather than
participate in the Forum, please write an ad
describing the boat and its equipment and send it to , and it will be posted on the Forum. This is simpler than signing up. A 'throw-away'
address on
Gmail or Yahoo or wherever is a good idea unless you want to get spam on your home address
for the next ten lifetimes. Since no one tells us that things have been sold, For Sale
notices may be removed after six months unless they are renewed by the seller or
otherwise active.

Using the Forum

We want the Forum to be a durable resource, which is to say that if you have an
interesting question and someone out there has a thoughtful answer, we want them on the
site so that others can read it, today and for as long
as this site lasts. Therefore, Rule Number One (the one and only rule on
the Forum) is:

You will not ask people to send answers to your e-mail address or phone
number. That's no use to the other people who use and contribute to the site, and who might
someday have need of that information, so we want the question and the answer
in the Forum. Therefore e-mail addresses and numbers will be promptly deleted. The
only time they are acceptable is when you're trying to buy or sell a boat or gear.

The corollary to the prohibition on private answers is that you will not
write to the Association with questions about your boat; you will be directed to re-read
this material. Check the site (particularly Black Arts), then search
the Forum, using the Search tool listed at the top of the page.

Don't be too precise when using the Forum's Search; a more general search
will give a greater number of less relevant results but a higher potential for
finding what you want – if it's there. For instance, searching "anchor locker"
won't find "anchor well"; just search "anchor" and you'll find
everything we have about anchors, anchor wells and anchoring. Search under the
"Message" category for the broadest results, under "Subject" for
a slightly narrower focus. Since few of us stay precisely on topic, searching
"Message" will give you everything we have, at the price of having to read
through a few more items that are less relevant.

Use Google. Many of the questions on the Forum ask for help in finding replacement
parts; that's okay with us, but if you know what you want – a part for
a pump that's no longer made, but for which you have a name, for instance – you
may find what you want more quickly searching with Google. On the other hand,
if you want some thoughts on whether to rebuild that pump or replace it, you'll
do better in our Forum.

If none of these options does the job, then post a question in
the Forum.

You'll get more and better responses if you include a concise, descriptive
title. Read the Forum for inspiration. If you want to sell or buy something,
your results may be improved by adding "For sale – ..." or "Wanted
– ..." to your title.

For the sake of your own sanity, you should write your address (when permitted,
as in selling or buying items) as "name [at] address.whatever",
to reduce the harvesting of your address by spammers. True, it won't be a clickable
'mailto' link, but people who are really interested will translate it; anyone
who is incapable of substituting the @ symbol should probably stick to boats
that fit in his or her bathtub.

These are not rules but observing them is in your interest...

Familiarize yourself with the contents of the site, particularly Black Arts,
which functions as a "how-do-I..." FAQ.
If you have a specific question you need to ask, use the Search function
in the Forum to see if people have already answered your questions. There are many
long, thoughtful answers in our Forum, ready for you to read at your convenience;
don't expect people to repeat themselves for you. Moreover, if the Forum is dominated
by discussions of traveller replacement for two weeks, then you roll in a week
later and post a new query about choosing a traveller, you're going to have a hard
time regaining a reputation for intelligent participation.

You can read the Forum as a guest, but registering has been made mandatory
for those who want to post because of persistent spamming. Look
for the word 'Register' just under the row of boats. Submitting a profile (first
and last name plus general location at a minimum) for the Forum is now mandatory as a
means of separating real from spurious registrations. Location and boat information may
help others answer your questions. If you have registered and signed in (it's automatic
after the first time if you make it so):

you get to go back and edit your posts if you like;

you are automatically notified when someone answers your post (original post
or answer);

you can add an automatic signature line with information about yourself, your
boat or your club (but keep it simple – see below); and;

perhaps most importantly in terms of community we have created here, you are
letting people know where you sail, so they can tailor their answers to your
location;

the only downside is that you will get one (1) e-mail a year encouraging you
to join the Association – we absolutely promise your info will never be
sold, traded away or otherwise exposed to the view of spammers. (And let's be
reasonable here – who would want the names of people who own 30-year-old
boats? Rolex? Aston Martin? Only if your other boat is a Swan 80.)

Readable posts get read and answered. Therefore, you ought to...

Proof-read your submissions. Asking – as someone recently did – if
anyone has a "used mail" to sell (in the subject line and in
the text) will not advance your cause.
Mis-spellings of key words, expecially in the subject line, may make
it impossible for someone to locate a worthwhile discussion at a later date.
One of the corollaries to our desire to create a resource of long-term value is
a preference for descriptive titles on your posts; pose your question under a title
that will help people know what you're talking about.

Write like an adult writing to other adults. Telegraphese, 133t and Blackberry
Basic may have their uses, but we prefer that you use a keyboard that does not
rely exclusively on the use of your thumbs. Posts written in all-caps may be
deleted (this is not a rule, but the Admin is capricious, like one of those tropical
gods who run volcanoes; if you don't know how to use a shift key, write all lower-case
– it's easier to read).

Don't get cute with your posts. The people who design Wired may
groove on yellow text on a lime-green background, but readability surveys say
black text on a white background is readable and gets read. Isn't that what you want?

Using photos in your posts

Most of us now have digital cameras and many users
of this forum have questions, answers or ideas that can best be explained with
a photo, so there are often requests to "post it in Black Arts".
However, this site is definitely Web 1.0, rather than Web 2.0, so you can't post
to Black Arts; only the Admin can, and it's sufficiently time-consuming
that only items of longer-term, broader-spectrum interest are so honoured.

There are some simple workarounds: Dropbox and photo-
sharing web services. Dropbox is essentially
a file-sharing site, but it does allow you to post photos for others to look at; you can even specify if others are
allowed to add to the collection and a variety of other entertaining activities.

Alternatively, post your photo on a site specifically devoted to sharing photos, such as
Flickr, Snapfish, Picasa or any of the other photo-sharing sites.

Im not going to explain how to do it here, because they all provide tutorials about their own requirements.

Once you have uploaded your photo and copied the URL, you then have three options. You can simply copy the URL from your browser and paste it in a post, as in

Again, the URL between the quote marks should be the URL of your photo. Don't worry about the codes in brackets – they will be rendered as commands and disappear when you submit your post.

When you compose a post in our Forum, you have the opportunity to preview your
submission; don't forget to test the link then. Remember also that if you change the location of the photo, you'll break the link. Use the 'Edit' button to repair the link.

Viewing This Site

One of the first principles of the Web is that it should not matter what sort
of computer or monitor you have. So, you will not find a "Best viewed in..." statement
on this site. No matter what you're
using to browse this site, everything should be available to you. To achieve that,
every page on this site has been subjected to the validators provided by the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Unfortunately, the address of our Forum contains
characters that generate errors, and that address appears on every page, so we
can't claim this site is fully compliant. The Cascading Style Sheet (of which more
below) passes, so we get to show this image on the page:

In addition to recognizing the universality intended for the Web, we recognize that
not everyone has high-speed access, so images over about 26kb are always preceded
by thumbnails so you can decide whether you want to look at them or not. There
are no animations or movies.

The remaining issue is that you may encounter problems if your type size
is extremely large. As shipped and installed, most PC browsers
display type at a size used by newspapers to announce the outbreak
of war – far too large for normal viewing. Large text will also do funny
things to the page layouts. The embedded style sheet should reduce the defaults to
something manageable, but if your type is still so large that words overflow their
assigned spaces, pull down the View menu, drag to Font Size and
select smaller. Reading overly large text is more tiring than reading a
normal size, so you may want to keep the smaller setting as a browser property.

If you run into problems or see what appears to be a blunder or omission on my part, .